Kisses End, But Love Does Not
by Hikari Takaishi
Summary: It's a Jyoumi!!! O.o... Er, I'm slowly curing my writer's block.... Anyway, Jyou is working his way to tell Mimi his feelings. And ... and... Mimi responds! o.O R/R please. I suck at summaries. ~HT


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Kisses End, But Love Does Not

Four thirty in the morning, a junior was wide-awake with books sprawled across his bed, floor, and desk. In midst of his studying, he would have his usual snack. A fourth of a sandwich, saving the rest for later, and a sip of a kind of soda pop. He didn't seem bothered by anything other than his books and sheets of paper. You could say that it was his job to study. Tests were distributed almost daily at his school; this young man couldn't let himself fall behind. Today, more or less this morning, he was finishing up his science needs.

Despite the early morning, his cellular phone started to beep. Slightly startled, he picked up the phone, held it to his ear and tried to speak with a pure, joyous tone; "Hey there, this is Jyou. How can I help you?"

"Yes, I'd like a small order of fries please." A sincerely sarcastic voice joked over the phone. "Come on, Jyou… you sound like a seventeen-year old, pizza-faced, uneducated, disrespected, low-down I-pick-up-a-penny-in-the-gutter-to-use-it-for-food fool. Can't you just say hello?"

"I'm sorry," Jyou said carefully. "But all those things aren't true about me."

"Yeah, you're younger and the opposite of all that stuff."

"No," he replied, "I only pick up money that's worth it." He heard laughter. "So, Mimi, how goes America?"

"Same old," she muttered. Jyou could tell she was adding a pout to the two-word sentence. Then she added, "And no, I'm not pouting!" as if she could read Jyou's mind.

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Yes you were!"

"I was not."

"Whatever." She sounded slightly disgusted. 

Jyou leaned back in his chair and removed his glasses. "Whatever," he repeated in a highly mocking tone. Mimi giggled in the background.

Even though there was great distance between the two, they always seemed to keep in touch so easily. Whether it was phone calls, to visits, to letters, or e-mails, it was all the same. Each had its own amount of sarcasm; each had its own amount of 'I miss (all of) you' messages etched on the sides of the letters. But never once did Jyou say the three most important words that he wished he could say. In all the commotion of school, friends, family, he never said "I love you" to the one he loved. This, in his mind, was almost as bad as getting an F in one of his easiest classes. However, he wanted it to be different this morning…

"Hey, Mimi?"

"Yeah, Jyou?"

"I'd like to say something." He started.

"Ack," she whimpered, "I'm sorry, Jyou. But my mother told me I have to get off the phone now. I'm sorry. Good luck on future tests! Bye!" Then she hung up.

"Wh-but-I…" He heard the click and muttered, "But I love you." Jyou hung his head and tossed his cell phone onto the bed. Another phone-call, another time to miss the opportunity to share his feelings. It was a day in the life of Jyou Kido.

Mimi Tachikawa stood up from sitting in front of a window. It was raining outside, but that's not what she was worried about. She was wondering what Jyou wanted to tell her three days ago. Since then, they haven't gotten a hold of each other. One day, he was taking a test, another day she had gone shopping. And on the third, they both missed each other by calling at the same time. They were both disappointed that the other line was busy. So in spite of her curiosity, she walked to her computer and sat down in front of it. Her eyes gazed at the screen when she opened her e-mail. 

Forwards, forwards, forwards… mail subscriptions, forwards, ah! An actual message from Hikari. She clicked on it. _Hey Mimi, Daisuke is with me too. Takeru would be bt he had to eat a dog. Okay, Daisuke typed that. He just went out to lunch with Yamato. So what's up with you? Everything here is fine. exsept TS. Ugh, okay, I told Daisuke to wait outside. I should go now; we're going to watch a movie. No, not just me and Dai'. (You should know I wouldn't be alone with him in the dark; been there done that!)_ Mimi laughed and continued to read._ Jyou, Koushiro, and Taichi and Miyako are going to watch it too. Guess who gets to be the lucky one to sit with Daisuke? Kidding, kidding, I'm not going to make fun of him any longer. Bye, Mimi! ~*Hikari Yagami _

Mimi clicked on the reply button, but decided to go to compost. Curiosity was still within her mind. It was practically squeezing her brain, trying to figure out what Jyou was going to say. So she clicked on the compose button. She typed a simple message, signed it, put Jyou's e-mail address, and clicked on Send. Then she stood up and walked out of her room to finish up doing her daily chore of talking on the phone.

Back in Odaiba, Jyou received the e-mail and replied to it almost immediately. It was a short one saying the usual "How are you?"-"I am fine."-"I miss you."-"When is your next visit?" type of thing. Then he remembered that she wasn't able to visit until summer. That was a long time away… Jyou thought for a moment. Why couldn't _he _visit _her_? A brilliant idea! He would surprise her by visiting her. Jyou smirked to himself. Sometimes he wondered why he couldn't think of things earlier.

(Ahem, one week later…)

Mimi strolled into her home and tossed her bag onto the floor. She swirled into the living room and came into a sudden halt when she bumped into a tall man. Her body fell to the floor in a surprised reaction and a groan slipped out of her lips. As she looked up, she saw a familiar face.

"Jyou!" she cried and automatically jumped onto her feet. "Jyou!" she said again and then paused. "You're tall."

He raised his brow and smirked almost teasingly. "Nice to see you, too," Jyou whispered and held out his hand to help her up. 

"Where's my mom and dad?" 

"They uh, left just a few minutes ago. They said they had to meet with a crazed monkey on a New York rampage?" Jyou blushed lightly for no reason.

"Ah, they must've went to see my dad's boss." She snickered. "Is something wrong?"

Jyou's lips twitched a little bit. "Not really," he lied. Inside, he was resisting the urge to bring his lips on her own gentle, inviting ones. 

"It's good to see you, Jyou…" she said quietly and wrapped her arms around the taller boy's shoulders. Her unhesitant movements startled Jyou, but he soon fell into her hold and exchanged the warm embrace. 

"It's great to see you."

"What did you want to say to me?" Mimi asked, thinking about the earlier days. "When I couldn't stay on the phone any longer."

"I uh," Jyou felt his cheeks heat up. He knew that she knew that he wasn't here just to visit freely. Jyou was here to actually see her and tell her- - if he could bring up the courage.

Mimi pushed him onto the couch and jumped onto her father's recliner. "Come on now, tell me. You can tell me anything. Please, please, please."

"Eh," he fell onto the couch and his cheeks started to deepen in its shade of red. "I don't know how to put it."

"Oh," she said. "I think I can help with that…"

"What?"

"Say… 'Mimi, I wanted to tell you that…' "

"Mimi, this is stupid. I'm not going to waste our time with this."

"Mimi…!" she urged impatiently.

Jyou sighed. "Mimi, I wanted to tell you that…"

"That what, Jyou?" she asked, her voice suddenly perky and soft again.

"That…" he faltered.

Mimi punched him in the arm playfully. "Come on! It can't hurt." 

Jyou looked at her pleading eyes. Then his view fell upon her lips, how soft they seemed. He was ashamed he couldn't tell her how he felt. 

"Jyou?"

"Mimi," he said, letting his eyes trail down to the ground. "I-I just kind of wanted to inform you that… that… that I…"

Her hand gripped his. Jyou loved the way her hand slipped into his so easily and how delicate her skin was. And how she always found a way to stare into his eyes as if searching for a secret that she couldn't find. Nearly everything was perfect about her in his eyes. But he reversed the process and thought about himself; he wasn't the best looking guy, he wasn't the funniest… He could barely take a joke unless he was in a good mood. And half of his time was spent on studying; the other half was sleeping or taking tests. How in the world could a girl like a bookworm like himself? Especially if those books are based on biology and other 'boring' subjects?

"Mimi," he started again, "I love you." His voice raised into his normal tone and he added quickly, "And I know what's going to happen. So let's skip that part and uh, watch a movie or something."

Mimi's eyes widened and she felt her heart practically stop. "Jyou?" she asked when he stood up. 

"Uh, yeah?" he asked back.

Her fingers tightened around Jyou's hand and it caused him to sit back down. "I feel the same way you do. I love you too, Jyou…" 

"You," Jyou set his other hand on hers and asked inquisitively, "you do?"

A smile formed on her lips and she nodded. "I wouldn't lie."

He smiled as well and both leaned close to each other unknowingly. A faint whisper of the repeated words "I love you" came from Jyou before their lips met in a long awaited kiss. It wasn't a simple kiss that stands for 'I want you,' it was one standing for that growing flame on the candle of love. Their fingers were laced lovingly and their eyes were shut to remember the moment. The kiss ended with seconds of separation only to join into another kiss. 

"Kisses end," said Jyou after the moment passed, "but keep in mind that my love for you, will never vanish."

(I'm on the move to get out of writer's block! Please r/r and tell me if this is okay. 'Cause if it's not, then maybe I should work on my stories more often… o.o… Anyway, thanks for reading.) ~HT


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